Two rare figures of Sariputta and Moggallana

1^st half 19th century, Rattanakosin period

Bronze with remains of cold gilding

H43cm (each)

Provenance: Private collection from Art Asia Belgium since 2015

This pair of monks represents Sariputta and Moggallana, the Buddha’s two chief disciples. They once belonged to a set of five monks, including three standing monks, who probably have been placed all together in the same temple as part of a shrine.

The monks are elegantly seated on their knees in a symmetrical fashion.  They are slender with a youthful compassionate face, half closed eyes with visible pupils, the fingers long and fine, the hairdo shaven. Their robes fall with elegant pleats along their body and are draped over one shoulder. Both monks sit in in the humble posture of a Buddhist worshipper, their feet turned away from the focus of veneration.

With two hands they delicately hold a bunch of grapes and a myrobalan fruit, which was used in the ayurvedic medicine as an anti-inflammatory and to heal wounds and scalds.

The thrones are bordered with pearls and nicely engraved with fine vertical lines.

The treatment of the robes and the proportions are characteristic of early Rattanakosin craftsmanship, but still in the late Ayutthaya stylistic tradition.

You can only be touched by the sensitivity that emanates from this meditative temple pair of monks.

References:

Compare a closely related pair of bronze disciples, dated to the 19^th century, 53 and 53.5 cm high, in the Walters Art Museum, accession numbers 54.2990 and 54.2991.